Just Remember Me
by proudtobeawhovian
Summary: Oneshot where The Doctor and Amy lose Rory in a game of hide and seek, leading them to a stranger named Will to ask for help.


He remembered the day he left like it was yesterday, though it was almost six months ago.

Standing at the train station with Ellie, clutching her hand like it was the only thing holding him on the ground. The way her lip was trembling, her blonde hair drifting gently in the wind, made him want to cry. He had enlisted for the war with his friend Nicholas though both of them were underage, and now here he was getting ready to leave.

She had turned to him, a tear on her cheek. He had wiped it off and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a kiss. Her lips tasted like mint and she smelled like lilac perfume, her skin as soft as silk. Her kiss was tender, gentle, and sad. They pulled away and she lingered for a few seconds, her face only centimeters away from his.

"Will," she had whispered, her voice shaky, "Why did you enlist? Why are you leaving me?"

He had sighed, having already answered this question of hers a million times. He looked her in the eyes, placing his hands on her cheeks as if to hold her there. She breathed slowly, her eyes showing the deepest sadness he had ever seen them hold.

"Ellie," he had murmured softly, "I want to do my duty for our country."

"But not like this, Will, you don't have to do it like this."

He hadn't answered and instead pulled her into an embrace, kissing her cheek. Her breath tickled his neck, the warmth creeping down his spine and giving him goosebumps. She took a step back, placing her hand on his shoulder. He hated leaving her, the heartache he felt was almost as bad as being stabbed with the sharpest blades over and over again. He would miss her something terrible.

"Promise me something, Will."

"What's that?"

"Don't die out there, please. I need you to come home. And Will?"

"Yes, Ellie?"

"Don't kill anyone. I know it's war but please... don't kill anyone. Don't come home a murderer. Can you promise me those two things?"

Being sixteen, young, and foolish he couldn't imagine either of those scenarios ever taking place regardless of his promises. So, looking Ellie straight in the eye he whispered two words that would stay with him throughout the entire war.

"I promise."

She kissed him one last time, this time harder and more forced, more desperate. He wrapped his arms around her neck and let himself get lost in her embrace, drifting away from reality.

"ALL ABOARD! LAST CALL!"

These words startled both of them into separating, a million unsaid things lingering between them.

"Goodbye, Eileen. I love you."

Then he had turned around and climbed onto the train, sitting next to his best friend Nicholas. The train whirred to a start and as it moved down the seemingly endless track he stared out the window at Ellie, his Ellie, until she faded away.

Then, four months later, he was running through the forest with Nicholas, death at their heels. A series of gunshots rang out in their ears, fear running through their veins that was almost as familiar now as the blood itself. Then, Nicholas collapsed on the ground with a scream of pain.

Will fell beside him, grabbing his friend and holding him in his arms. He could feel the blood gushing out from Nicholas's back onto his hands, disgustingly warm. Will sat there with his friend, soaked in his blood though he hadn't been the one to kill him. Nicholas looked him in the eyes, terror gripping his every nerve.

"Will..." he had croaked, "Will you were the best friend I could ever have."

And then, in the arms of his best friend since primary school, he had died. Will screamed into the empty air at the top of his lungs, cursing the universe for taking his friend. He sobbed for hours, unable to let go of his friend that had died far too young. It shouldn't have been Nicholas that died, it should have been Will.

So, as the sun was setting in the distance, Will carried his friend back to the base. Every step felt impossible as he grew closer and closer to leaving his friend forever. The nurse almost had to rip Nicholas out of Will's arms, and as soon as he did Will collapsed to the ground with grief.

But he didn't get a day off, for this was war. The next day he had to continue fighting, this time without his friend by his side.

And now here he was, alone. Without Ellie and without Nicholas, lying on the cold ground in his thin sleeping bag. He cried not only for his dead friend or for his broken-hearted lover, but he also cried for himself. Will wasn't completely selfless, and he could almost feel himself changing with the war. He shouldn't have enlisted, because if he hadn't none of this would have occurred.

Many nights he sat in the cold, musty, lonely darkness with a gun to his head, one push away from the death that was welcoming him with open arms and promises of no more grief or regret. But every single time, just as he was about to pull the trigger, his promise to Ellie would echo in his mind.

"I need you to come home."

And he kept both promises. He hadn't killed a man and he hadn't died himself. No matter how hard it was, no matter how endless and dark it seemed, he kept on fighting to keep his promises to Ellie.

They were the last thing he had to hold on to.

"No, Amy, we cannot put up 'missing' signs. We don't want to draw anymore attention to ourselves than has already been drawn! And it's only been ten minutes, I mean come on." Will heard a voice outside his tent say, startling him. He stayed still and tried not to breathe too loud, not wanting to draw attention to himself.

He couldn't die. He couldn't be killed. Not like this.

"Sorry! It was just an idea..." A woman responded with a thick scottish accent.

"Look, there's a tent right there, Amy. Let's just ask whoever is in there to help us."

Will held back a gasp, desperately hoping that it wasn't his tent they were speaking of, though he knew it was the only tent in a three meter radius and the two sounded relatively close. He watched as they unzipped the tent from the outside and burst in, startling Will into a small yelp.

"Oh, sorry," The man said (who was wearing a suit and a bowtie, quite odd to be wearing so close to the battle). The woman (Amy?) stood beside him in a red plaid shirt and blue jeans, looking slightly confused and exhausted.

"Yeah, um, if you're here to kill me would you please just get it over with?" Will said, not wishing to have a long drawn out death. Those were the worst... or so he had heard.

The woman laughed at this and the man shot her a stern look that pushed her into silence. The man turned back to Will, an apologetic smirk on his face.

"We aren't here to kill you, we were simply going to ask for your help."

Will stared at the man, skeptical as he said, "Help with what?"

"Well we kind of lost our friend..."

"Rory," The woman said, more interested now that they were talking about something she was familiar with. Will stared at the pair, contemplating this. Was it worth the risk? Did he even care if he died?

Sure, he wanted to keep his promise to Ellie, but would the promise even matter if he was dead?

"What are your names?"

"I'm Amy and this is the-"

"John. I'm John Smith," The man (John, apparently) interrupted, giving the girl a look that Will couldn't translate. It was obviously a private look between them.

"What's your name?" Amy asked, turning kindly to Will.

"William," Will lied, "Call me Will for short". He may be gambling his life but he was definitely not stupid enough to reveal his real full name. And Will worked as a nickname for both, so it was perfect.

"William. Has a nice ring," John said, smiling, "So are you willing to help us find our friend, Rory?" Amy looked up again at this man's name and Will figured that this must be someone close to her.

"I guess," Will mumbled, still unsure. John and Amy didn't seem like they wanted to kill him, but you never know.

"Great!" John said, "We lost him in the forest somewhere. He has slightly red hair and a five o'clock shadow-"

"But it looks good on him," Amy interjected.

John looked at Amy, then rolled his eyes and continued, "And he has green eyes. Very green eyes."

"In fact," Amy said, "I have a picture of him on my pho-"

"I think," John urged (slightly scolding), "You left your picture at home."

"But John-"

"After all, it's 1940 and you don't bring your pictures with you anymore do you Amy? Not after the incident."

"Right," Amy finally admitted, defeated. Will watched this whole thing play out with slight confusion and wonderment, fascinated by these strange two people.

"So, this Rory guy, how long ago did you lose him?" Will asked.

"Ten minutes ago," Amy announced.

"Right. And you have no clue where he is?" Will urged, trying to find something to get him started.

"We lost him next to a waterfall... we were playing hide and seek..." Amy admitted, obviously embarrassed to have been playing children's games. But she didn't understand how much Will longed to play those games again, to laugh and have fun. Those days were far behind him.

"Rory is a really good hider," John smirked, trying to make a joke. Amy shot him a look, then rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Listen, Will... I love Rory. I love Rory as much as I love... as much as I love tea. And I need to find him before he gets hurt because... well Rory is very clumsy. He tends to die... a lot."

That last part confused Will but he let it go, not wishing to elaborate. How could someone die a lot? Maybe the girl had meant to say get hurt, but Will didn't want to linger on her mistakes. He felt it rude to correct people unless they were seriously wrong.

And Will hated being rude.

"Okay, Amy, I'll help you. But only because I love someone too, and I would want help in your situation," Will finally spoke, thinking of Ellie as he did. His beautiful blonde haired Ellie with the lilac perfume and minty lips.

"Thank you so much."

"So describe this waterfall to me, because there are five waterfalls in that forest if I remember correctly. And if I can remember which of the five I can use the stars to find my way there."

"It's um... well it's about 10 meters high. And it has lots and lots of frogs next to it... and it's blue," Amy described, terrible at it.

"It's 10.5 meters high with about 23 frogs, 2 trees, 6 bushes, and 3 unidentifiable plants," John intervened, "It has three tiers to it due to the rocks, the first drop being 3.3 meters, the second 5.2 meters, and the third 2 meters," John explained things a million times better at it than Amy.

"I think I know what waterfall you are talking about," Will assured him, "And I can get you there in five minutes."

He climbed out of the tent with Amy and John in tow, looking up at the sky and being very grateful that it wasn't a clouded night. This waterfall was under the cancer constellation at this time of year, just north of the big dipper... or was it the small dipper? It didn't matter, he knew he could find it.

He led Amy and John through the forest, only looking down at the ground to navigate around tree roots and thorn bushes. And, as he had promised, they were back at the waterfall in five minutes. Amy stared at Will with thankfulness and admiration, a slight amazement mixed in as well.

"AMY!" A man said from across the pond, "I completely lost you!"

"Rory!" Amy hollered, sprinting across the pond to her lover. He pulled her into a hug and they kissed for a long time, Will and John watching awkwardly.

"I'll go back, then," Will said, turning around.

"Wait, William, how can we ever thank you?" John asked, "I think that you saved Rory."

"Just remember me, sir," Will smiled, not wanting to be a burden, "But my name isn't William. I lied. It's Wilfred Mott."

He turned around and ran back out of the forest and to his tent before John could speak another word.

* * *

The Doctor stood in silence as Wilfred ran away, sadness tugging at his hearts. Wilfred Mott. He had just seen Wilfred Mott. The kindest, most understanding man he had ever met. Wilfred Mott. Grandfather of Donna Noble, husband of Eileen Mott (who had passed away in the 90s).

He felt a tear fall down his cheek as he stared where Wilfred had stood, wiping away the teardrop. Wilfred Mott. He had just seen Wilfred Mott.

And he had asked for the Doctor to 'remember him'. But remembering Wilfred Mott was the easiest thing the Doctor could ever do. He could never forget the man that was the grandfather of Donna Noble, the man who could find him in a matter of hours while it took others hundreds of year. The man with a heart of gold and endless optimism.

Wilfred Mott would never be forgotten.

"Come on, Doctor!" Amy said, "Let's go back to the TARDIS, I want to leave this stupid place."

"I second that," Rory agreed.

"Yeah," The Doctor mumbled, "Let's go."


End file.
